Roland-Garros: Moutet books spot in last 16 for the first time in Paris

Frenchman Corentin Moutet reached the last 16 of Roland-Garros by winning against Austrian Sebastian Ofner 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 at Roland-Garros in Paris on Friday evening.

It was a lively affair on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, with the vocal French crowd behind Moutet. The world No 79 was in trouble early, however, falling behind a set and 3-1, before switching gears and winning 13 of the last 19 games to claim the match.

Moutet, ranked No 79, will face Italian Jannik Sinner, the second seed, next.

Crowd, underarm serves help Moutet in Paris

“It’s one of the best feeling I had on a tennis court for sure,” Moutet shared in his post-match comments. “I had to stay focused because he’s had two hard matches, the crowd was really good. At the beginning I played well but he played amazing.”

“It helps (the crowd) in difficult moments.”

Across the two hour, 47 minute clash, Moutet his a total of nine underarm serves.

“My first goal is not to make people crazy, its to play my game,” the Frenchman reflected.

“When I see the opponent far from the line sometimes it’s an option. I use my skills, my qualities, I lost only one point, it’s a good percentage. It’s a shot we can use so if I can use at some point I’ll use it.”

Ahead of his victory, the Frenchman beat Chilean Nicolas Jarry, the No 16 seed (6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0) and Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko (6-4, 6-2, 0-6, 6-3).

Ofner, ranked No 45, overhauled the situation against French wildcard Terence Atmane (3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 7-5) and Argentinian Sebastian Baez, the No 20 seed (3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (5)) in the previous rounds of the Roland-Garros 2024.

Paris (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Roland-Garros, clay, EUR 53.478.000, most recent results first):

• Novak Djokovic vs. Lorenzo Musetti
• Taylor Fritz vs. Thanasi Kokkinakis
• Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Casper Ruud
• Jozef Kovalik vs. Holger Rune
• Francisco Cerundolo vs. Tommy Paul
• Alexander Zverev vs. Tallon Griekspoor
• Tomas Machac vs. Daniil Medvedev
• Zizou Bergs vs. Grigor Dimitrov
• Hubert Hurkacz vs. Denis Shapovalov
• Ben Shelton vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime
• Alex De Minaur vs. Jan-Lennard Struff
• Carlos Alcaraz (3) beat Sebastian Korda (27): 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Stefanos Tsitsipas (9) beat Zhizhen Zhang: 6-3, 6-3, 6-1
• Jannik Sinner beat Pavel Kotov: 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
• Matteo Arnaldi beat Andrey Rublev (6): 7-6 (6), 6-2, 6-4